Business News – 5-14-2021

Facebook races to remove anti-vaccine profile picture frames

  • Despite a policy banning anti-vaccine messaging on its platform, Facebook continued to host frames with claims that users can overlay onto their profile pictures 
  • After CNBC reached out for comment about one such frame claiming, “my immune system works better than the” followed by a graphic of a syringe, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed the image had violated its policies and was removed
  • CNBC was quickly able to find well over a dozen other examples of profile picture frames that touted similar messages or at least toed the line of Facebook’s policy

San Francisco tech companies face record amounts of empty office space

  • The amount of available sublease office space in San Francisco more than tripled during the pandemic, and tech companies are paying the price
  • Dropbox and Salesforce have taken among the biggest impairments in the industry for their vacated space
  • Airbnb said in its earnings report on Thursday that it took a $113 million charge in the first quarter “related to office space in San Francisco that we deemed no longer necessary”

Chip shortage expected to cost auto industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021

  • The semiconductor chip shortage is expected to cost the global automotive industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021, according to consulting firm AlixPartners
  • The forecast is up by 81.5% from an initial forecast of $60.6 billion in late January
  • A number of factors have contributed to the increase, including a fire at a chip supplier plant near Tokyo and weather-related kinks in the automotive supply chain

Dogecoin rallies on Elon Musk tweet, anticipated Coinbase listing

  • Dogecoin’s price soared as high as 56 cents early Friday, according to Coin Metrics data
  • Elon Musk tweeted that he was working with dogecoin developers to improve the efficiency of transactions
  • Crypto exchange Coinbase said it would offer dogecoin support in the next six to eight weeks

By K Buenavista

Mr. Buenavista is a writer that specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy to understand formats that appeal to a wide range of news seeking readers, without missing the important details. He handles a majority of the daily news reporting at Easy-Ad, and has written on many other websites. He resides in Southern California.